The scale of last week’s attack on the Nigerian towns of Baga and Doron Baga by Boko Haram militants has been shown graphically in before-and-after satellite images revealed by Amnesty International on Thursday.

Satellite images, taken on January 2 and January 7, respectively,
show the change to two densely populated towns, 2.5 kilometers
from each other, where more than 3,700 buildings were damaged or
completely destroyed by fire, Amnesty International reported.

Baga and Doron Baga, some 160 kilometers from Maiduguri, the
largest city in northeast Nigeria, as well as at least 16
neighboring villages and other towns, were devastated by a series
of attacks of Boko Haram militants that began January 3, local
officials said.

“These detailed images show devastation of catastrophic
proportions in two towns, one of which was almost wiped off the
map in the space of four days,” said Daniel Eyre, Nigeria
researcher for Amnesty International.

“Of all Boko Haram assaults analyzed by Amnesty
International, this is the largest and most destructive yet. It
represents a deliberate attack on civilians whose homes, clinics
and schools are now burnt out ruins.”

"This week, Nigeria’s Director of Defense Information stated
that the number of people killed in Baga including Boko Haram
fighters “has so far not exceeded about 150”. These images,
together with eyewitness accounts from those who survived the
attack, suggest that the final death toll could be much higher
than this figure,” Amnesty International’s Eyre said.

Thousands of people have fled the violence across the border to
Chad and to other parts of Nigeria, according to the human rights
watchdog. Analysis of satellite images suggests that this time
desperate residents used wooden fishing boats to flee across Lake
Chad.

“They killed so many people. I saw maybe around 100 killed at
that time in Baga. I ran to the bush. As we were running, they
were shooting and killing,” a male Baga resident told
Amnesty.

A woman added: "I don't know how many but there were bodies
everywhere we looked."